March 11, 2010

Today's reading: Joshua 18, 19, 20; Psalm 11, 41, 71, 101, 131; Proverbs 11

Joshua 18:8, "And the men arose, and went away: and Joshua charged them that went to describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it, and come again to me, that I may here cast lots for you before the LORD in Shiloh."

I remember when I got old enough to hunt I would go out into the woods on my Uncle's farm with my little shotgun and "hunt'. I had no idea what I was doing. One time I took a friend from school. I remember it was winter and it was cold. We were dressed for the very cold weather. For some stupid reason we decided to empty our shotguns into a tree. The tree was frozen so all the buckshot bounced off the tree and came back and hit us. I got hit square in the chest. I remember it like it just happened. I had a few holes in the vest I was wearing on the outside of all of my clothes. We did not tell anyone about our adventure.

I don't think this is what Joshua was telling those men to do. They were to just go out and make notes about the land so that it could be divided up among the remaining tribes.

I think it is the same way for you and I as Christians today. God has put each one of us in a particular area so that we can reach people in our area. You will reach people that I will never meet. I will reach people that you will never meet and we can make a difference in the lives of people together as a team.

Notice in Joshua 19:47, "And the coast of the children of Dan went out too little for them: therefore the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem, and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and dwelt therein, and called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father." The tribe of Dan did not have enough land to contain all of them. What did they do? They went out into the land and conquered more until they had enough. So many of us today want things handed to us. We have no idea what it is to go out and "conquer".

If we go out and conquer there will be rewards. Look at Proverbs 11:30, "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise." I am talking about going out and fighting the spiritual battles of life. If we are going to win souls we need to be ready for a battle.

Are you ready for the battle?